Iím convinced Rex Ryan made a deal with the devil to beat the New England Patriots because this team is cursed. I have never seen such a one sided game end up in a loss. The Jets pummeled the Miami Dolphins today and lost the game. It just does not make any sense. The Jets should have won this game 27-10, but they did not and now the wind was officially let out of the hot air balloon known as Rex Ryan.

Offense

It took the team a full half to get going, but once they clicked they really never looked back. This unit did everything they could to work their way back into the game. Mark Sanchez played extremely well. He found the proper receivers and made almost all the right decisions. I kind of think his bootleg TD was actually something he called at the line, but even if not he ran it perfectly. People are not going to be happy with him because he did not throw a great pass at the end of the game, but he was in an impossible spot there. He had help from all his primary receivers today. Dustin Keller finally had one of those games where he looked like a first round draft pick again. He and Sanchez connected a ton of times and Keller made two great catches. Braylon Edwards was fantastic. He is going to cost the Jets a lot of money, but he is well worth it. Itís fun getting to see that kind of talent take the field. Jerricho Cotchery did his part and showed that great ability to make YAC on his big 50 yard catch that may have gone for a TD had he not run into his teammate. When those three play like that this passing offense will be something special next year. David Clowney showed a little inexperience twice running 3rd down routes that were just short of first downs, one of which he got up and thought he had it. Still he is becoming a nice part of the offense. Thomas Jones had a good all around game. He made a big reception towards the end of the game and ran effectively against a team that not only is a good run defense but was playing 9 in the box most of the game. I was shocked they did not give him the ball more than once on that final drive. Shonn Greene made a costly fumble. I felt bad for him. He tried to do too much and nobody was there to back him up as he was getting tied up and putting the ball on the ground. After the game he just sat kneeling on the sidelines and put full blame for the loss on himself. He was the last player to leave the field. A bad rookie mistake but this game was not his fault. The Jets offensive line is overpaid. Iím not sure what else to say. They allowed Sanchez to get blasted on a few plays today and had two offsides calls. Whether they lose concentration or donít communicate there are just too many mental breakdowns here. But overall these guys did their job. There is nobody in that stadium, including the Dolphin head coach, who thought they would be stopped on the final drive.

Defense

There was just one complaint for the defense today and that was allowing the Dolphins to score an offensive TD when the Jets cut the score to 24-19. You can not allow Miami to score there. It is going to be overlooked, but the 2nd and 17 completion from Chad Henne to Camarillo was one of the biggest plays of the game. The Jets had all the momentum back again at that point and a very well rested defense just blew it. Still, that was the only drive Miami had all day. The Wildcat was nonexistent. The play calls in those spots were great and the execution of the defenders was tremendous. Henne got pummeled all day. Shaun Ellis and Marques Douglas had their best games of the season. Sione Pouha had the best game of his career. Calvin Pace continued his great play. It is amazing that Henne never turned the ball over the way he was being hit. There is some lack of communication at times with this team, especially in the secondary, but it really did not hurt them today. Almost everyone who saw the field made at least one positive play. When a defense holds a team to 100 yards you should win by 20 points. The Jets are still going to win games with a defense that plays this well and if they even played half this well their last meeting with Miami the Jets would have won that game. Watching the defense today compared to that first game shows how much they took it for granted that they would just beat up the Dolphins. It was night and day from that game.

Special Teams

Our special teams stinks. This was the worst special teams effort I have ever seen. Ted Ginn just murdered the team today. The guy is not even a good kick returner. Prior to this game his career average was 22 yards per return. He never had a TD and only had one return longer than 50 yards. He made the Jets look as if they did not exist. The best special teams tackler was Jay Feely it was so bad. On the first kick much of blame could probably be placed on Feely. Feely blasted a low line drive that did not allow the coverage to get there. The Jets effort was still poor on that play, but they did not have a great chance. The second kick was just disgusting. How can a team allow a player to do that? The Jets had him for a nothing gain and allowed him to escape. Again they over pursued and had nobody in place to save a score. The teams decision to allow Feely to not play ďsafetyĒ on kickoffs really hurt them. Even if he cant make a tackle he might be able to slow Ginn enough to allow a speedy guy to bring him down from behind. The teams coverage design allowed a player to reverse field and have nobody left to beat. It was unbelievable. These are players that are basically hanging onto a job every Sunday and you have to do something positive. Larry Izzo, ďspecial teams aceĒ, should have been cut in August. He allowed Ginn to break that last one and had a stupid penalty running into the kicker early in the game. Vernon Gholston proved why he never sees time. Danny Woodhead proved why he should not be on an NFL field. I donít understand why Ahmad Carroll and Marquice Cole were not out there today for specials.

The Jets specials used to be a reason why they won football games. Those days are long gone. Itís poor coaching. Poor personnel decisions, and poor execution.

Coaching

I donít want to give Eric Mangini much credit as a head coach, but the one glaring difference that you notice between he and Rex Ryan is the lack of attention to detail and situational planning that goes on with Rex Ryan. The poor special teams play is obvious. Calling a time out on a 2 point conversion attempt is something that should never happen unless it is the last play of the game and you have to make it. Having too many men on the field with a team about to score a TD was a killer. Having guys running on and off the field as if they had no clue what to do is inexcusable. Countless bad penalties. These are the kind of mistakes that never would have been made under the previous regime.

Of course there are a lot of things they do much better than the previous regime. The defensive gameplan was basically genius. They used packages for the Wildcat with extra defensive backs that say Brown get pressured badly when he tried to pass. They brought blitzed that murdered the QB. Ryanís calls more or less looked like he knew what the Dolphins were calling before they called the play. The offense more or less worked all game.

The situational decision at the end was confusing. It is all a part of the learning experience. All game long they stuck to their gameplan. Somehow on that final drive they got away from it once they got to the 12 yard line. Iím not sure if they simply forgot they could get a first down or not, but they scrapped the run calls after a 3 yard gain with their jumbo package and simply played for the end zone. Going shotgun on 3rd and 6 in four down territory was a bad decision. Sanchez seemed to be doing better under center and the 4th and 10 conversion saw him line up under center with a slight threat of run. Miami was overpursuing the run and you had to have that threat on 3rd and 6. They let the Dolphins defense off the hook with the play calling which up until they point was really great.

I did not have a big problem with the 2 point conversions. At the time of the first attempts Ryan has to believe the Dolphins will not score again. The Jets defense was lights out and the odds of the another non offensive TD were astronomical. With points hard to come by it was not a bad choice. Iím surethe Mike Francesssaís of the world will be taking pot shots at them for it, but it made no difference in the outcome of the game. If the Jets take the extra point and go down 24-20, Miami never goes for a two point conversion (though Im not sure I understood why they went for one anyway) and the score becomes 31-20 when the Dolphins get their one offensive TD. Either way the Jets would have been down 4 at the end of the game. Getting that illegal shift call on the final attempt was the real killer, not having missed a prior conversion.

Overall

I still just can not believe I am sitting here and the Jets are 4-4. The way this teams finds ways to lose is amazing. The pick 6s in New Orleans. Poor clock management in Miami. The 5 interceptions against Buffalo. Forgetting to play Special Teams against Miami. The Jets should be no worse than 6-2 right now, but it is what it is and the team is 4-4 and stumbling along.

Rex Ryan really has to shut his mouth. All year long he has picked on this Dolphin team and they just handed him the two worst losses of the season. The team feeds off his attitude which is good to a point, but the undisciplined play comes from playing out of this bravado rather than using their heads. Sometimes you have to stop selling the players on how good that they are and point out the faults that they have. There is no reason to be 4-4 right now, but we play dumb football too often and then leave the game saying how we are the better team. The players can not leave the game after every loss saying they are better. It wont get better until they stop that.

The season is not over by any means. The division may just about be out of reach and maybe the Jets are as we all thought a 0.500 team, but they still have an easy schedule and winning 6 more games is not a crazy thought. They just have to learn to put a full 60 minute game together. They cant have any phase of the game meltdown anymore. It has cost them 3 times now. You do not get those wins back. Ryan has to do something over the bye week to get this team to play smarter football and to take a constructive look at his and his staffs own faults and try to correct them in order to make a push for the postseason in December. One more slip up like this and the Jets will have lost their home crowd for the remainder of the season. Go Jets!